Osborne celebrates hitting public finance deficit target

The government yesterday hit its target on reducing the deficit in public finances – two years after former Chancellor George Osborne initially promised.

In 2016 the current budget deficit was £20.7bn, and in 2017 it moved to a surplus of £3.8bn.

Writing on Twitter, Osborne said: “We got there in the end – a remarkable national effort. Thank you.”

The Treasury added: “We are making a success of reducing the deficit, which is down by more than three-quarters since 2010. But our national debt is still too high, and we must get debt falling to improve our economic resilience and reduce the burden on future generations.”

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